Someone should write a book that would act us a compendium of all of the ways we are costed to live here at every level. Each item would list the product, good or service that we pay too much for, the extra cost that we pay compared to the average of American states closest to us in culture, profile and politics (border, midwestern and New England states), the legislative authority, if at all, that props it up and, above all, the culprit or culprits behind it. (The latter should be subject to a "WARNING" note pointing out that we are the biggest culprits of all because we tolerate these prices and keep voting for politicians who keep them in place for their cronies in the industries involved.)
A partial list Federally:
Banking costs, service and selection (it's about more than just price - these last two naturally apply to most of the sectors mentioned below)
Airline tickets and charges
Clothing
Domestic autos
Oil and Gas
Dairy
Poultry
Cellphones
Other entertainment subscription services
Provincially:
Financial Services (especially, Insurance, especially, Auto)
Maple Syrup
Electricity
Buses and other public transit
Other food controlled in distribution by the provinces (there are but four authorized food depots in all of Ontario!)
Alcohol (with Federal connivance)
Rental housing (a case of supply falling short of demand usually due to rent control)
Construction (E.G.: the gizmo that would have lowered building costs that one Canadian inventor came up with only to be forced to market it in the US after being shunned here!)
These are just the areas I can think of. Much smarter people than me who make a living from studying this can find more. And don't forget the things that we don't pay for at all because we are not allowed to buy them by our tariffs, rules and industrial policies, like good cheeses. The most obvious example is Health Care, another area where our governments connive to prevent us from buying what we need or want (or insuring for it) like the free adult citizens that we are supposed to be. (And, no, that's not the grand bargain you think it is either - we pay in taxes at least as much for health care, without any say in how it's administered, as the Americans fork out for private medicine and we still pay for non-listed services, too..)
As to the cost, a cursory estimate of what it costs just one person to live here as compared to living in, say, Ypslianti, would likely amount to well over $3000.00 annually using modest assumptions, like not having the person buying big ticket items, about the savings available. The real cost to the average family is likely double that at least. When you add that to the fact that the average American is earning about $15000.00 USD more than a Canadian, it is especially cruel and disturbing.
The book about this will be useless if it does not propose straightforward fixes for each item. The reader will not be surprised, I hope, to find out that the simple fact that the government got involved is not the only reason that we pay high prices. It is time for Canadian governments everywhere to reintroduce our businesses to the free market. We paid the price of being Canadian in spades on Tax Day and at the till all year. What is better, giving the Canadian Consumer a break will never cost their alter ego, the Canadian Taxpayer.
We should no longer allow ourselves to be conned into believing that we need to pay anyone anything else for that glorious privilege. On top of that, when we take off our consumer chains, we will all be more productive, competitive and prosperous workers, even many businesses that thought they were clever by colluding with our governments to set these rackets up. The only losers will be the lobbyists who work 24/7 to keep imposing these costs upon us. If times got rough, I've got a job for them saving us money at Walmart.
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